Boston Manor House London

Boston Manor House, London

Boston Manor House is a Jacobean manor house in Hounslow, west London. It dates from 1623 and is set in the surrounding Boston Manor Park, close to the Grand Union Canal. It is a Grade I listed building and owned by the Borough of Hounslow.

Closed for renovation with Lottery funding for a couple of years, the house is due to reopen in 2023.

Closed for renovation in August 2022

History

The origins of Boston Manor House date back to the early 17th century. It was built as a manor house for the recently widowed and soon-to-remarry Lady Mary Reade (née Goldsmith). Her late husband Sir William Reade (the stepson of Sir Thomas Gresham) had received permission to build the house from King James I. Lady Reade soon remarried to Sir Edward Spencer a distant ancestor of Lady Diana Spencer, first wife of the present King Charles III.

The original house was constructed in Jacobean style and featured red brickwork with stone dressings. It was surrounded by extensive grounds and a moat.

Before this, the lands belonged for a while to Sir Thomas Gresham who also owned nearby Osterley.

In the late 17th century, the Clitherow family acquired the estate. John Clitherow, a wealthy City of London merchant, made significant alterations to the house. The changes included adding a south wing and redesigning the gardens in the fashionable landscape style of the day.

During World War II, the house was used as a nursery and later as a school for evacuated children. It suffered some damage during the war but was subsequently restored.

In 1965, the London Borough of Hounslow took over the ownership and management of Boston Manor House and its surrounding parkland.

Sign at the house in 2022

Interior

The house has three floors. The ground floor includes a dining room and library.

On the first floor is the state drawing room with a fine plaster ceiling which dates from the first house built in 1623.

In addition, the house also contains a collection of around 80 classical paintings.

On the Piccadilly Line, Boston Manor serves a largely residential area of west London

Access – Getting There

Boston Manor Road
Brentford, London TW8 9JX

Hours: Boston Manor Park is open from 8 am to dusk.

The nearest station is Boston Manor Station on the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground network. It lies between Osterley and Northfields stations and is a 10-minute walk from the manor house. The station is in TravelCard Zone 4. The following London buses call at the station, the E8 (from The Bell Pub in Hounslow to Ealing Broadway) and 195 (Romney Road to Brentford County Court). There are also buses to Kew Gardens from Chandos Avenue, a 20-minute walk from the station. Map of London

Nearby Boston Manor

The area around the station is largely residential. It is, however, convenient for both Osterley Park House and Garden and Boston Manor House. Gunnersbury Park is also fairly close but nearer to other tube stations.

The Oyo Bostons Manor Hotel nearby offers three-star lodgings.

The Butts

Close to the manor house is the historical conservation area of The Butts. Here the fine houses date from the 18th century. The houses are mainly brick and had two floors when first built. Many of the houses here are also Grade II listed.